Hello. I am new to these forums and Yosemite national park in general. I've never been there but want to try and plan a day visit and hike for my buddies and I. We're camping off site at Silver lake (near Inyo national forest) and we were planning on driving to yosemite for one day either june 9, 10, or 11. Tioga road is the only road we could take from Silver Lake but so far caltrans and nps.gov say the road is closed for now. Last couple of years the road opened by late may - june 5th. With the showers and potential snowfall, does anyone think tioga road 120 will be open between June 9th-11th?

I sincerely hope so as it will be the only road I can use to even to our camp site from San Francisco. But anyway I have a few yosemite day questions. Assuming road conditions are traversable, I wanted some information about day hiking.

1. Having never been there before, is there anything I should know about just going there in general? I'm concerned about driving there and being able to get in. Does parking get full and have to take shuttles? Should I arrive at a certain time in the morning to ensure a parking spot?

2. How does the bear locker situation work? Almost every website I've been to say you need to store your food/scents/etc. in a bear locker but I have come across a few topics on here that people have said you can leave food in your car in coolers with windows up and sealed. I plan on putting stuff in bear lockers anyway so are those plentiful or do those fill up quickly?

3. If I make it yosemite, what is the area I should definitely see? We were interested in hiking towards half dome to get the best views so I think I saw the trails toward little yosemite valley worthwhile. But what are trails that will provide the best views?

Tioga road WILL be closed. They are not close to opening it. Best guess is that it could open around July 1st. The Sonora Pass road (hwy 108) is closed also at this time.Taking hwy 4 would be the only choice and that is a long way around.You must store your food in bear lockers in Yosemite otherwise you will get a ticket and fine. (They check cars each night)A great hike is to go to Vernal & Nevada Falls. You can not climb Half Dome without permit and they have all been sold out.

Wow, thanks for the road info. That definitely sucks. I guess our trip to yosemite won't even happen then.

As for the half dome permits, I thought climbing the cables was what you needed a permit for? Can't you use the same trails, but just not the actual subdome and dome itself without the permit or do you need one for the whole trail?

Yes, you can take a day hike to Little Yosemite Valley and go to the base of Half Dome without a permit. It's busy, but the Mist Trail is lots of fun.Unfortunately, with Yosemite you need to make plans months in advance to stay in the valley unless you get lucky and get a cancelation which can work if you have a small group. You can often get last minute rooms at Curry Village (tents) or Housekeeping Camp (where you can cook). To your question about getting around the valley - Use the 2 big parking lots near Yosemite Village or at Camp Curry. Then either hike, bike (you can rent them) , or use the free shuttle buses that run every 15 minutes until 10 pm.Don't miss going to Yosemite when you can get there -it's worth every effort!!!!

Ok, yeah, hiking the trails before half dome was what I meant. Sounds good, thanks for the info. We weren't going to stay, we were gonna drive there for the day and hike around there. But with tioga road still being closed and potentially the 108 and the 4 staying closed, we're gonna have to skip yosemite

You might have to skip Yosemite Valley, but by no means do you need to skip Yosemite. If you're referring to Silver Lake in the June Lakes basin, you're in a prime position to visit some of the best parts of the National Park. In fact, there's a popular trailhead just across the street from you. Silver Lake is a decent campground and there are lots of nice trails around there.

If you head north and drive east on 120 as far as they let you, you may be able to hit Mt. Dana or the Dana Plateau to the south, and the Saddlebag/Conness area to the north. The road to Virginia Lakes is another point of entry; further north is the road to Twin Lakes and the Matterhorn Peak area.

There's also plenty of great action to the south, though technically it isn't Yosemite. Some of your options may be hampered by our late winter; check which roads are open and be prepared to be walking on snow.

Yeah we're at Silver Lake which is by june lake. My friends used to camp at Silver Lake and said it was a great place so I'm not bummed we can't make it to yosemite, I just wanted to try since we were there. What other trails/places around silver lake can you recommend?